#independent studios

[askagamedev]

in light of the microsoft closings, a lot of people saying that getting acquired by a bigger company should be considered a death sentence for small studios. one thing I never understood is why are studios sold? I understand the owners want to cash a check and get out of the anxiety crisis it is running an indie studio but is it that unreasonable to refuse it? does it cause other consequences most people arent aware of?

Honestly, the decision to sell to a publisher is primarily a question of stability.

Independent studios live and die on their ability to secure contracts regularly, year in and year out. This process is a constant grind, requiring the studio leadership to maintain good relationships with publishers. Financial situations are never super stable, they are often feast or famine when there are tons of opportunities that your studio can't possibly field and then there are lean times when finding work can be difficult. It's especially difficult because there's almost no way that an independent studio can bank the kind of money they'd need to keep everyone paid for any extended period of time without securing a new contract to keep the lights on. There's also the disaster of having so many opportunities that the studio staffs up in order to handle more, only to get caught in a lean period where there isn't enough work to keep everyone employed. In lean times, the independent studio is left to fend for themselves while the publisher-owned studio gets higher priority when the publisher is considering project assignments. And there's always the issue of IP ownership - often the publisher is the one who retains the rights and the studio is work for hire. There's very little room for error when running an independent studio.

If the studio is owned by the publisher, there isn't a need for securing contracts anymore. An internal studio almost always has priority over an external studio for being assigned a new project. The internal studio can focus on developing games and technology. They don't need to worry about securing IP rights anymore, since they're all owned by the same company. It's a huge reliever of stress from studio leadership to know that there's more of a safety net, even if that safety net is not perfect. When lean economic times hit, everyone suffers - including the internal studios, as we have seen. Large companies will often shed staff during bad times but have a higher overall survival chance than small ones.

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[handweavers]

i've been so fucked up for months i haven't been able to go downtown to pick up my work from last spring from my school's textile studio and they always have a cutoff date like if you don't pick up your old work by x date they toss it and they're pretty strict about that unless you arrange with the studio tech beforehand, and the studio tech doesn't like most people she's pretty curt with most students. not rude but just keeps things professional and a bit distant, a very serious person. but i know she grew to like me over the past few years/warmed up to me a lot and we'd chat a lot about different textile things and she would say really kind things to me a lot which felt rare and special, and she let me have special treatment with some of the equipment because she trusted me to use it properly. and i haven't seen her in nearly a year and i expected her to have tossed my work out when i didn't come to pick it up last fall and emailed her to explain why and dropped off the face of the earth, i made my peace with losing that work and accepted it, it is what it is, i will survive, etc.

but she emailed me earlier this week and said she didn't have the heart to toss my work and has kept it safe in her office for me if i'm ever able to come pick it up and if not she's going to keep it as an example piece to show other students when teaching weaving because it's too lovely to get rid of and my heart swelled like 10 times its size bc she didn't have to do that and it meant so much to me that even a year from seeing her last she was still thinking about me and being kind to me. and i emailed her back and picked it up today and saw her and we chatted for a bit and it was so nice. I love her I miss my school's textile studio and weaving in there and talking craft with her... sigh

[aquaspiderart]

new postcard prints are up in my shop! go check them out!!

[goblinpuppystudios]

happy lunar new year!!

[saltedsnailstudio]

In The Garden

Jasper Alexander

linocut print on lokta paper

[telekinesis-mind-control-comics]

[actualjenna]

some pages from my comic HELLO, SOUPHEAD. which will be sold at the Massachusetts Independent Comic Expo this weekend!! if you have the chance to go, perhaps pick up a copy! if not, i might release it online sometime soon 👁

[analogbreakdown]

Fallout Tactics is epic and influential!

I had the pleasure of writing up all the times Fallout Tactics has been referenced in subsequent Fallout titles for the Independent Fallout Wiki! It's amazing to see how influential the game has been on the series!

Next time someone wants to debate with you on canon, send them this :3

https://fallout.wiki/wiki/Fallout_Tactics#Series_connections

[cakbanedraws]

Celebrate for 78th Indonesian Independence Day

Happy Independence Day for Indonesia folks out there!

[frodolives]

The MCU-ification of the Lord of the Rings that's beginning is so tragic and fucked up I genuinely can't stand it. lol.

[calico-fiish]

Con planning!!

[kitsuna-mi]

Did a 4 pc fan art set for Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky.

I definitely love this movie a normal amount. TwT

[aquaspiderart]

updated my print shop to have some new on-demand pokémon prints!!

Go check them out, I'm pretty happy with how they all came out!

[searchsystem]

Gustav Nordebrink & Niklas Rosén / Independent Designers Collective (IDC) / G—W Studio / Website / 2022

[goblinpuppystudios]

barnacles!!

my links •ᴗ•

[studioindievision]

❗BRAZILIAN ANIMATION ALERT! ❗

We are thrilled to announce our first project in production as an Indie Animation Studio: "Dandelions", a 🇧🇷🏳️‍🌈 short film.

It's a LGBTQIAPN+ short film about a French figure skater who is going through a crisis in his career and is going to spend some time on vacation in Brazil, looking for a solution to his problems. The only thing he didn't count on was that an environmentalist from Rio de Janeiro would be the reason for most of his thoughts on Brazilian soil! Meanwhile, he faces another small challenge: his half-lion son.

Wait, half lion?? How is this possible?

And for that question, all we can say is that... Well, you'll find out soon enough! 😁

Here we will bring updates about the production of the trailer and our goal is to raise funds to make our animated short come true!

We are the union of a diverse team with a common passion: all genres of animation! And you can be sure that behind every part of the process you'll see around here, there's a lot of affection and dedication going on! We count on your support in our first project, "Dandelions"! ❤️